Introduction

Background of the Study

Oral Communication Skills is very important for the students. The oral communication

skills are the process of expressing information or ideas by word of mouth. According to

Antonio Lucanus, oral communication skills are vital for a student’s academic success and future

career prospects. In today’s challenging environment, students must not only possess academic

expertise, but also the requisite skills to enhance their learning and employability prospects in the

future. Communication is a dynamic process as it involves an interaction between two or more

people the sender and the receiver. The main purpose of communication is to transmit thoughts

and beliefs to another person. The major components of communication are verbal

communication or oral communication and non-verbal communication. Oral communication is

the process of expressing ideas through the medium of speech and this plays a crucial role in the

life of students.

An individual learns the basics of oral communication right at home. The school

environment takes this learning a notch higher by teaching the student how to interact with peers

and teachers alike. The quality of communication in student’s life will define professional

communication later in life. Good communication enables students to assimilate more from the

learning process by empowering them to ask relevant questions and discuss doubts.

Effective verbal communication nurtures the process of socialization by facilitating new

friendships and these in turn aid the learning process. Productive communication is a boost to

career development. An ability to convey thoughts in a clear and precise manner would help a

student to make a favorable impression at an interview and get the job that he deserves.

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Communication skills inculcate professionalism in speaking styles, ways of self-expression and

attitudes towards others, and these traits would hold students in good stead in their professional

lives.

The hallmark of a good student communicator is that he mastered the art of preparing,

organizing and delivering successful oral presentations. Oral communication includes real-time

presentations, video presentations and interviews, with accompanying visual aids such as

handouts and power-points. Message is the key to a good oral communication. The substance of

the presentation should be relevant to the audience and goals of the presentation. Self-awareness

is the starting point of good oral communication. A person who is aware of his strengths and

weaknesses can put in the required efforts to improve communication skills.

Confidence is another vital aspect of good communication. A person may know the subject and

yet not communicate adequately if he lacks confidence. Simplicity in messaging is indispensable

for good communication as assimilation of the message is directly proportional to clarity of its

presentation. Awareness of the audience is an important tool in the hands of an effective oral

communicator. A good communicator can gauge the impact of the by observing the body

language and feedback of the audience and adjust his approach accordingly. Interaction is the

path to effectiveness. A student oral communicator can keep the audience engaged by asking

questions and soliciting opinions on the subject matter at hand. This would also help in fine

tuning the message and style of presentation, based on the feedback received from the audience.

The tone of voice of the presenter carries a lot of weight in delivery of the message. A confident

tone keeps the audience engaged, whereas a low and monotonous tone can be off-putting. Voice

modulation can also be employed to highlight the key points in the presentation and retain the

attention of the audience.

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 Body language is an important component of effective oral communication. The student

should adopt a stable and confident posture, make appropriate gestures, avoid being fidgety and

establish eye contact during the presentation. Oral communication is not merely the ability to

speak, but also the capacity to listen. A good communicator is one who is attuned to the audience

and is able to calibrate his message accordingly. An aspiring oral communicator should be

willing to acquire and hone his listening skills over a period of time.

This study will be conducted at John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation-Bacolod, a maritime

school that is located at Brgy. Alijis Bacolod City it is considered to be one of the best maritime

schools in the Philippines, most of the students at John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation- Bacolod

are dominated with boys who want to be successful seafarers. The school’s vision is to become a

globally leading institution in providing high-quality education and training so that the students

will be equipped and ready for their own future. The school aims for the students to equip the

conceptual and technical knowledge, interpersonal skills and competence required for the practices

of their profession by being a discipline-oriented student, that is why some of the students here at

John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation - Bacolod have their own Oral Communication skills on how

the students will gain their knowledge, to pass their subjects and to excel academically that can

lead to their success in the future.

The Oral Communication Skills in English of Grade 12 Caribbean Students of John B.

Lacson Colleges Foundation-Bacolod. The researchers have their own reason as to why they have

picked the said problem. There are a lot of Grade 12 Caribbean Students of John B. Lacson

Colleges Foundation – Bacolod who doesn’t speak or show their oral communication skills

especially when speaking English. This research aims to help the students avoid this kind of

problem which can result in long-term difficulties. This study also aims to produce students who

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are globally competent and to help them be fully equipped and prepared to advance into society.

The researchers chose to conduct this study to help the Grade 12 Students develop and improve

their oral communication skills which can help them be capable of processing their own skills in

speaking.

Statement of the problem

This study is conducted to determine the Oral Communication Skills in English of Grade

12 Caribbean Students at John B. Lacson College Foundation – Bacolod. Specifically, this study

aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the factors that influence the Oral Communication Skills of Grade 12

Caribbean Students?

2. What is the extent of the Oral Communication Skills in English of Grade 12 Caribbean

Students when grouped an compared together according to School of Origin and

Economic Status?

3. Is there a significant difference between the Oral Communication Skills in English of

the Grade 12 Caribbean Students when grouped and compared together according to

School of Origin and Economic Status?

Hypothesis of the Study

Since Problems 1 and 2 aimed to determine the Oral Communication Skills in English of

Grade 12 Caribbean Students and the Extent of Oral Communication Skills in English as a whole

and when they grouped according to the selected variable, there were no hypothesis was

formulated for Problem 3:

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 There is no significant difference that exists on the extent of Oral Communication Skills in

English of the respondents when they are grouped and compared together according to School

Origin and Economic Status.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

This study is conducted to determine the oral communication skills on English of Grade 12

Caribbean Students at John B. Lacson College Foundation – Bacolod. There are different ways in

improving and develop the oral communication skills in English it could be understanding the

fundamentals of oral communication, frame in words what you think, and read as much as you

can. According to Krishna Reddy, before you step into the reality and advance your oral

communication skills, it is quite essential to understand the basics of communication skills. Do not

refrain from practicing oral basic communication in English in the fear of making mistakes and

getting embarrassed. Mistakes are the basic part of any learning process. Initially, you might face

difficulty, yet with practice and proper guidance, you will definitely improve.

Enjoy speaking English and overcome all your fears and practice English. According to

Mitchell and Myles (2002), reading regularly is considered to be the best practice that can enhance

basic oral communication skills. Reading English literature, newspapers, magazines, novels,

fiction, etc. improves vocabulary skills. Also, this will aid you in developing your thinking process

and enhance your sharpness in gathering ideas and expressing them in English.

Each person has their own style or techniques in improving their Oral Communication

Skills on English. Some already recognize and practice daily their own technique in terms of

improving. For the students they can develop their own Oral Communication Skills on English by

reading and learn a new information or knowledge to enhance it by surfing in the different websites

that can help their needs on information.

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 Self-esteem is a crucial factor in determining an individual’s success in an activity. Parsons

(1983, p. 175) defined self-esteem as "the sum of one's attitudes toward oneself; the evaluation of

what a person feels he is”. Parsons stated that "a person who acquires the view that he is

undesirable, worthless or bad tends to act accordingly". Furthermore, Parson deduced that if

students feel that they cannot speak a second language or do not have the ability to learn a second

language, their language learning behaviour will be in accordance with these feelings. Self-esteem

is also defined as “the set of evaluative attitudes that a person has about himself or his

accomplishments” (Morrison and Thomas, 1975, p. 374). In short, self-esteem is a personal

judgment of worthiness that is expressed in attitudes that individuals hold towards themselves. It

is a subjective experience, which the individual conveys to others by verbal reports and other overt

expressive behavior.

Grammatical competence is an umbrella concept that includes increasing expertise in

grammar (morphology, syntax), vocabulary and mechanics. With regard to speaking, the term

mechanics refers to the basic sounds of letters and syllables, pronunciation of words, intonation

and stress (Scarcella, 1999, p. 141). In order to convey meaning, EFL learners must have the

knowledge of words and sentences; that is, they must understand how words are segmented into

various sounds, and how sentences are stressed in particular ways. Thus, grammatical competence

enables speakers to use and understand English- language structures accurately and unhesitatingly

in communication, which contributes to their fluency (Eggins & Slade, 1997).

English foreign language learners must develop discourse competence, which is concerned

with interactional relationships. Discourse competence can be defined as "the ability to use

coherent and cohesive texts in an oral or written form” (Bachman 1990, p. 29). In discourse,

whether formal or informal, the rules of cohesion and coherence apply, and aid in holding the

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 communication together in a meaningful way. In communication, both the production and

comprehension of a language require one's ability to perceive and process stretches of discourse.

Strategic competence refers to the individual's ability to use "communication strategies "to

get their message across and to compensate for a limited or imperfect knowledge of rules or the

interference of such factors such as fatigue, distraction or attention (Rababah, 2003, p. 54).

Strategic competence, which is "the way learners manipulate language in order to meet

communicative goals" (Rababah, 2003b, p. 228), is perhaps the most important of all the

communicative competence elements.

It is important to understand the term culture which "involves the beliefs, values, and

behavioral patterns shared by large groups of people" (Paulette, 2000, p. 45). Kramsch’s (2002, p.

127) definition of culture can be insightful to English language teaching (ELT) and related to

"membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and a

common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and acting". Intercultural

communication occurs when people from different cultures exchange information, ideas, thoughts

and feelings with one another.

In figure 1, the factors that affecting the Oral Communication Skills in English have been

showed.

Schematic Diagram

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

Factors affecting the Oral Communication

Skills in English of Grade 12 Caribbean
Students
School of Origin
 Public Oral Communication Skills in English of
7 Grade 12 Caribbean Students
 Private
Economic Status
Figure 1: A schematic diagram representing the Conceptual Framework of the study.

Theoretical Framework of the Study

This study is anchored to Developing Oral Communication for Specific Learner Group

by Marham Jupri Hadi. Learning contexts are related to various individual difference variables

influential in determining what teaching and learning students would choose (Rao, 2006).

Similar to that, Goh and Burns (2012, p.172) also suggest that an effective way to plan an

effective speaking program is by identifying the learners needs Therefore, having sufficient

understanding about the learning context and characteristics of the learners will certainly

beneficial to identify what language learning theories or techniques would be most relevant to

the development of their oral communication skills. Therefore, this article will address some of

key concept to implement in this context. These include: interaction and correction, varying

learning activities inside or outside the classroom for fluency development, a combination of

multiple structural frameworks, using emerging technologies, and assessment and evaluation.

Another theory is very important on this study, the Oral Fluency by Thomas Scovel.

Lennon (2000) states that the rate of articulation or other indicators of “dysfluency” (p. 25)

should not be the criteria for assessing fluency of speakers, because these may have

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“communicative functions in discourse” (p.25). He further states that “temporal variables will

vary according to discourse topic, situation, interlocutor, and so forth” (p. 25) for speaker. It is

quite important to acquire the ability in language processing apart from the linguistic and

pragmatic competence as it will help speakers to achieve proficiency in any language. To put the

above discussion in a nutshell, Lennon defines fluency as “the rapid, smooth, accurate, lucid and

efficient translation of thought or communicative intention into language under the temporal

constraints of on-line processing” (p. 26). He has also included the term “perceived fluency” (p.

27) in the definition of fluency. It stands for the perception that a speaker has regarding his/her

ability in planning the speech and production of the speech. Moreover, the high automatization

of phonological, morphological, lexical and syntactical processing is important for a fluent

speech. Less proficient speakers have a little command over these processes, because, they learn

the language in a non-communicative environment. They try to maintain a high speech rate (as

this is what they perceive fluency as) but fail to convey their message. They have the impression

that they are fluent in their speech but in fact they are maintaining what Lennon termed as “false

fluency” (p. 28). Talking about the bilingual and multilingual, he says that “crosslinguistic

influence is the norm” (p. 30) for them, as they can easily access the lexis, phonology, and

syntax of their L1. This results in code-switching, code-mixing and use of structures which are

based on their L1, or the other language in which they are proficient to carry on the discourse.

This may pave a platform for errors that are “interlingual or intralingual, covert or overt (Corder

1971), global or local (Burt and Kiparsky 1974), knowledge-based or processing-based” (p.30).

Significance of the Study

The study was intended to determine the Oral Communication Skills in English of Grade

12 Caribbean Students that will be considered beneficial for the following:

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 School Administrator. This study hopes to produce a result that can be utilized as basis

for recommendation and improvement to John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation-Bacolod students

with regards to their Oral Communication Skills in English. This points out a way for school

administrator to focus on enhancing their students’ abilities for this is an essential component to

become globally active and competitive.

Parents. This study hopes to raise awareness to parents, whom are directly concerned

with their children’s education that considers school performance in discipline. This will help

mom become enlightened as to how important and beneficial Oral Communication Skills in

English are for their children’s present academic performance and future career fulfillment.

Students. This study will be beneficial to the students since it will enlighten them of their

rise points and downfalls in Oral Communication Skills in English, hence, giving them

competence and need to focus on some areas for improvement, with the guide of the faculty and

administration, providing them information from added equipment that will be provided by

school resulting to a maximum learning opportunity and higher academic performance.

Future researchers. This study opens a wider perspective and deeper understanding on

the Oral Communication Skill in English of Grade 12 Caribbean Students. It will be beneficial

on the future researchers since it will serve as a guide in understanding the factors affecting the

student’s Oral Communication Skills and likewise the student’s Level of competence in writing

and speaking. The findings of this study may add inspire other researchers who desire to adore

similar study regarding the Oral Communication Skills in English of Grade 12 Caribbean

Students in John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation – Bacolod for a more in-depth understanding.

Definition of Terms

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 The following terms shall be used in the study for they may help the researcher to define

meanings, provide clear directions, and contextualize the meaning of such terms. For a clearer

understanding of the concepts involved, the terms used in this study are defined conceptually

and/or operationally.

Oral. It is conceptually defined as the examination, especially in a foreign language, that

is spoken rather than written (Wood, 2012). Operationally, it is defined as a way of Grade 12

Caribbean Students in John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation – Bacolod expressed their

information through speaking orally.

Communication. It is conceptually defined as the systemic process in which individuals

interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings (Agnaou, 2008).

Operationally, the term communication is used to know if the respondents are good in using

English language for communication.

Skills. A skill is an ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and

sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions

involving ideas or cognitive skills, things or technical skills, and/or people interpersonal skills

(Ryan, 2009). Operationally, the term is used to enhance and improve by the respondents which

is Oral Communication Skills in English.

English. It is conceptually defined as the primary language of several countries and a

second language in a number of multilingual countries (ThoughCo, 2017). Operationally, it is

defined as a medium for teaching at John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation – Bacolod.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study is only focused and limited in determining the Oral Communication Skills in

English of Grade 12 Caribbean Students at John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation – Bacolod. This

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study includes variables such as School of Origin and Economic Status. This study does not

include other students and other variables that are not included.

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